This invention relates to a sunroof assembly for a vehicle, and more particularly, the invention relates to a motor for driving the sunroof of the sunroof assembly.
Sunroof assemblies are desirable features for vehicle consumers. A sunroof is driven between open and closed positions to provide ventilation, increased sunlight, or access to the vehicle. Sunroof assemblies are typically rather small and are located above the driver's and forward passenger's seat of the vehicle. Prior art sunroof assemblies have used a drive motor located in the interior of the vehicle to drive the sunroof between the open and closed positions.
Recent sunroof designs have become more complex in design and larger, which presents new problems for installing the sunroof assembly onto the vehicle at the factory. In particular, large sunroofs have been developed that are supported by rails secured to the exterior surface of the vehicle roof. Locating the drive motor for the sunroof assembly in the interior of the vehicle presents problems when the sunroof and rails are secured to the exterior of the vehicle. For example, the drive elements connecting the drive motor and the sunroof must somehow pass through the vehicle roof and be connected to one another. As a result, multi-piece drive elements may be necessary in which one piece of the drive element is pre-connected to the drive motor and another piece of the drive element is pre-connected to the sunroof. During assembly at the factory the drive motor and the sunroof may be separately connected to the vehicle. The pieces of the drive element must then be connected to one another so that the drive motor may then drive the sunroof between the closed and open positions. However, it is desirable to install the sunroof assembly as a single unit to simplify assembly of the sunroof onto the vehicle roof. Therefore, what is needed is a sunroof assembly which does not require multi-piece drive elements and which enables the drive motor and sunroof to be attached to the vehicle together.